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Left to Right: Ersita Rahajeng Wibowo, Nursiti, Ayu Wulan SafitriSupercapacitors are a type of capacitor that can store energy on a large scale with an amount of energy that is almost equivalent to a chemical battery. However, supercapacitors have a much higher usage period and fast recharge speeds than chemical batteries.

Supercapacitor allows the battery with a very large output and can be used repeatedly until the end of its life, without any reduction in performance. These advantages make the supercapacitor a new breakthrough in energy storage and have been used extensively in various fields such as the field of transportation, digital technology, electrical machinery, military equipment, and space.

Studying the properties of supercapacitors, three students of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Universitas Brawijaya (FT-UB) are determined to find new materials for capacitors with large capacity. They conducted an experiment by synthesizing α-MnO2/C. The properties of the material are then combined through the process of making electrodes which will then be applied to the supercapacitor.This PKM-PE team consists of Nursiti (Chemical Engineering '17), Ersita Rahajeng Wibowo (Chemical Engineering '17), and Ayu Wulan Safitri (Chemical Engineering '15). Under the guidance of Rama Oktavian ST MSc, three of them made a supercapacitor electrode with α-MnO2/C nanocomposite using electrolysis method.

"Manganese oxide is the right electrode for supercapacitor design because it is easy to obtain, low cost, low toxicity, and has a wide voltage range," said Nursiti.

The specific capacitance of MnO2 is ± 1380F / g. But now, only 30% or even lower than the theoretical value that can be obtained. Besides having a large storage capacity, MnO2 is also an anode material that is environmentally friendly, inexpensive, and abundant in nature.

Unfortunately, this compound has poor electrical conductivity, large volume expansion, and particle polymerization during repeated use cycles, which results in poor cycle stability. Therefore, to overcome unfavorable conductivity the team composites MnO2 with carbon to produce high conductivity.

With this work, these 3 students succeeded in gaining research funding from the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia. The funds are used to support the needs during the research. And on August 2, the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education announced that this team had succeeded in representing UB towards PIMNAS 2018.

"Hopefully this innovation can be applied in the community and the nearest goal, of course, that this work can contribute medals to UB," Nursiti hoped representing her team members.